What have we learnt from the first three rounds of Cricket Shepparton’s Haisman Shield?

And that’s not a bad thing, and here’s why.

This season is already shaping as a maverick campaign with as many as 10 teams showing flashes of finals capability, making for an evenly-keeled competition for the most part.

So, despite only a small sample size to work with, we’ve had a crack at zeroing in on some of the league’s bending parabolas and weird anomalies from a strictly one-day perspective.

New blood can clot

Several of the competition’s perennial March candidates announced boom recruits before round one, but it hasn’t gone to plan for some.

Liam Evans’ return to Waaia has been the polar opposite of what many predicted, especially considering his 775-run, 62-wicket smoke show for Nathalia in Murray Valley Cricket Association last season.

The gifted all-rounder has eight runs and two wickets from three starts in Bombers colours, but the two globes to begin the charge point to a shake in confidence levels.

Evans is far from the only culprit, though.

Shepparton United and Mooroopna imports Seb Menzhausen and Ethan Baker arrived with large expectations, having played second-XI county cricket with Nottinghamshire and Hampshire respectively.

Both have 20 runs to their record down under, though Baker has the edge over his English compatriot with three wickets.

The pair is still young and will undoubtedly go on to prove its worth in Cricket Shepparton with 10 rounds remaining.

However, it just goes to show there’s no guarantees new blood will run smoothly from the jump.

Shifting the tides

Peering into the crystal ball ahead of the first toss, it was tough to judge which sides would start like houses on fire and which would go up in smoke.

Tatura was not among the top picks for the former category — but it’s a different story now.

Daniel Coombs’ boys have shredded the pre-written script to sit atop the one-day ladder, making a serious statement to break into finals for the first time in what seems like an age.

Tatura last placed inside the Haisman Shield top six in the 2008-09 campaign.

However, quite cruelly, back then the competition featured a top-four finals format, meaning the club’s last A-grade cameo in the post-season likely came well before that.

Young all-rounder Blake Armstrong is taking votes like no tomorrow with 168 runs (three 50s) and a trio of wickets, galvanising a Tatura side that is daring to dream in 2024-25.

The Howley Oval tenant boasts double the quotient of second-placed Waaia, showing this team is far from, well, average.

A notable mention for hot starters is Numurkah, fresh off a significant beatdown of Euroa at the weekend.

The Blues went big with signings, but seemed to have nailed the formula with a smattering of returning imports relishing their second season in Haisman Shield.

Mooroopna hoopla

We’ve heard of a premiership hangover, but do the symptoms double if you don’t win the flag?

Learning of Mooroopna’s departures from last season it was given that the 2023-24 grand finalist would take a bit of a hit heading into the new offensive.

But to sit second bottom after three rounds seems like a slight on the club’s reputation.

Mooroopna has finished inside the top three for the past five seasons and has not witnessed a rougher start since the 2018-19 campaign when it dropped the first five one-day matches.

So where have Henry Barrow and co missed the mark?

Losing a stack of runs — Matt Price (330) and Jac Smith Williams (226) — and wickets — Luke Zanchetta (30) and Nick Breslin (18) — has left Mooroopna fairly light on in both departments.

Thankfully for the club, there is plenty of time to make up ground.

This weekend’s match against Old Students will be a barometer of what Mooroopna is made of and a test of whether or not it can shirk the early stumbles.